Classes 2017

Spin Your Own YarnJan. 17 - Mar. 13. Learn to use the simple drop spindle to spin your own woolen yarn for knitting, crochet, or weaving. This hand tool of prehistoric origin is inexpensive, portable, and easy to use. Create a mid-weight yarn suitable for garments, accessories, and household items. Pack all your spinning supplies in a lunchbag-sized tote and take it with you on vacation! Click on Winter Brochure 2017.

Books

The Woven Pixel: Designing for Jacquard and Dobby Looms Using Photoshop®Co-authored by Alice Schlein and Bhakti Ziek. 362 pages, many illustrations. Now available for free download on handweaving.net. The accompanying CD with 1400 pattern presets is not included with the free download, but may be purchased separately. Email me at aschlein[at]att[dot]net for more information.

Network Drafting: An IntroductionBy Alice Schlein. Break away from the block. Curves for your dobby loom. Originally published in 1994, now available as print-on-demand from www.lulu.com.

Monographs

A Crepe Is Not Just a Pancake52 pages of text, b&w and color diagrams, and drafts for multishaft tradle & dobby looms. Many color photos of actual cloth. Methods for drafting your own crepe weaves. Annotated bibliography. Pdf available for immediate download. $21. USD. Payment by PayPal. Email me at aschlein[at]att[dot]net for payment instructions.

Echo Weave Based on the 1996 article in Weaver's, Issue 32. With brand new diagrams and high resolution scans of original fabrics. Pdf available for immediate download. $7. USD. Payment by PayPal. Email me at aschlein[at]att[dot]net for payment instructions.

January 26, 2013

16-end Granites

The dobby samples I showed you yesterday were constructed of 8-end granites, which can be used on any shaft loom with a multiple of 8 shafts: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, etc; my actual samples were on 40 shafts. Today's samples are constructed of 16-end granites, interleaved with a second granite in a weft-backed construction. To read more about weft-backed weaves, take a look at Chapter 11 of The Woven Pixel (see sidebar).

Here's the back story on these samples: I'm doing a piece for an exhibition featuring bamboo, and I wanted to weave it on the TC-1 (jacquard). I thought it would be fun to experiment with granite weaves and use some of my stash of bamboo yarn. As I am not limited to number of shafts in this case, I put together a series of 16-end granites, plugged them into my design, and sampled with several combinations of bamboo and other yarns. The warp is black 20/2 cotton, and all the samples use two wefts.

Reading the samples from bottom to top, the first weft pair is beige silk noil and moss green bamboo; the second is pinkish rayon bouclé and off-white bamboo; and the third is gray cotton marl and off-white bamboo.

I'll probably weave more samples over the weekend (as long as we don't lose power!). I'm loving granite.

Comments

16-end Granites

The dobby samples I showed you yesterday were constructed of 8-end granites, which can be used on any shaft loom with a multiple of 8 shafts: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, etc; my actual samples were on 40 shafts. Today's samples are constructed of 16-end granites, interleaved with a second granite in a weft-backed construction. To read more about weft-backed weaves, take a look at Chapter 11 of The Woven Pixel (see sidebar).

Here's the back story on these samples: I'm doing a piece for an exhibition featuring bamboo, and I wanted to weave it on the TC-1 (jacquard). I thought it would be fun to experiment with granite weaves and use some of my stash of bamboo yarn. As I am not limited to number of shafts in this case, I put together a series of 16-end granites, plugged them into my design, and sampled with several combinations of bamboo and other yarns. The warp is black 20/2 cotton, and all the samples use two wefts.

Reading the samples from bottom to top, the first weft pair is beige silk noil and moss green bamboo; the second is pinkish rayon bouclé and off-white bamboo; and the third is gray cotton marl and off-white bamboo.

I'll probably weave more samples over the weekend (as long as we don't lose power!). I'm loving granite.